I am excited - just interviewed by email an Egyptian guy who is trying to support innovation and cultural transformation in Egypt (though Ramy might not say 'transformation') - here's the post: http://btucson.com/Tucson/Politics%20&%20Government/Global%20Issues//189881
Will post the books idea there tonight and see if anyone is interested.
On a more serious note, what should us comfortable Western folks do to support democracy protesters risking their lives to eliminate dangerous dictators? I don't really know. Its their revolution, not ours, but it seems like we should somehow offer non-directing friendship or support.
We can 'friend' their sites on Facebook and make links to their pages, and attend virtual protests. We can sign the page on Access now asking Facebook to hide protesters' identities to protect their lives. Find a way to get funds to Abdul (no last name) to get medical aid to injured protesters. More ideas here.
But long term, democracy means building up a whole new culture. For a while I've thought that sending books is a very simple and powerful thing. Books are deeper than fragments of text on the web, and many accounts of individuals breaking away from controlling mentalities start with books (Infidel, for one). I would like to see a site that facilitates individuals sending books to other individuals, without going thru a central organization.
Did Wikileaks trigger events in Tunisia? Not to devalue the efforts of the Tunisian opposition, street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi's sacrifice or in any way minimize the real problems with the government; just the opposite. But it could be that Wikileaks publishing a 'truth that everyone knows', was just the consciousness-raising event that needed to happen to get to critical mass.
I think that Vaclav Havel wrote about this, that publishing something that everyone knows, does change things. It makes it so everyone knows that everyone knows.
There is even a mathematical proof that such an event can trigger a chain reaction. Its a silly old sexist problem, but this is how I was taught it: on an island, there is a tribe where everyone is married, everyone cheats, and no one has ever been is caught; but if anyone is caught the wife will be tied to the Hoorah tree in the middle of the island for the night. One day, the visiting minister, who was the only unmarried person on the island, announces "there is cheating going on" and leaves. Now, since everyone is cheating, everyone already knew this. Yet on an island of N couples, you can prove
"Citizenship isn't just the possession of rights and responsibilities; it's a state of mind." --Jess Zimbabwe, speaking at the 2010 Open Cities conference.
It's your city. Have at it.
The Open Cities movement wants citizens to be more engaged with their city government, planning and development. Open information and modern technology promises to make city services more efficient and responsive, while giving city dwellers new avenues to provide feedback and guidance to decision makers. As a grassroots movement no single organization is 'in charge', but Code for America has put together some bright folks to tackle urban issues. Andrew Greenhill, chief of staff for mayor Walkup, is on the board of Code for America and had been wanting to do some projects here in Tucson, to open up city data and make it more accessible. read more...how to fix a pothole!
Aung San Suu Kyi was interviewed on a contraband camera
Partial transcript - read below to find what Aung San is asking us to do (transcribed from the video):
[Question about her willingness to talk to a brutal and oppressive regime]
"You have to talk to people if you want ..peaceful change"
"We want to review the position of sanctions, we want to see what the political ..effect is..."
Are you saying sanctions are on the table?
"It depends what the outcome of the dialog is"
"Freedom and democracy are goals which you never give up"
even when her husband was dying of cancer, and the regime refused her a visa seeing her...she only saw her son now after ten years...
"Tt was lovely to see my son, and I was grateful to see that he was alive and well...many of my colleagues are no longer alive
[mentions Obama calling her his hero]
"I do appreciate his words, but I do have to say if I were the blushing kind I would blush at being called a hero"
What do you want from America?
"We want the people of america to be aware of what is going on
I'm doing some work (a very little work) with the AloNovo project, which is basically a site to help consumers find socially responsible companies to shop with. Here's my first post on taking responsibility as an accidental shareholder in these beasts: We the Corporations
Just finished the old Jack Finney Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (had to read it because of the title, I have a theory about corporations being subject to real-life bodysnatching ;-). Good read, convincing characters, plot ok - and I love the moral : yeah its hopeless but that's exactly when you need to fight hardest against the bastards. They just might give up if you hit 'em hard enough.
what is the world coming to? Broken links on an Apache.org site - to the latest source tarball for the apache httpd server, no less
http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi#apache22
ah well - its Thanksgiving ( but that should only affect the US... )
I'm wide awake now, looking down at mountains poking up out of a rippling sea of clounds, side-lit by the dawn. In a plane, not on a mountaintop, but still striking.
The problem is as always: how to spend the moments of time. Deciding on each one is maybe the most wasteful; but hooking into precanned entertainment is not something I want in me. I would like to decide for myself, mindfully, what to do with my time. Most of it is already taken: work, deadlines, paperwork, and the good part, attentioning the kids. Sweet sleep and exercise are worthy too. But - what am I building, creating, or figuring out that is of any lasting worth? Most code is useless within a few years; or worse, still has to be supported 20 years later!
Even if I'd written a transport layer used by millions (without their realizing it, of course) I don't think it would be what I really want to contribute. Writing must be it, though to communicate values or patterns it will have to be more entertaining than this!
For some reason I love reading introspective writing myself. Hunger of Memory was liberating, because it seemed to
The problem with life is, the predators have most time to plan their next move. Non-predators have to spend more time just gathering and eating. Seems to be true of business predators as well...